Star Wars

Windows Phone Central Game Roundup: Star Wars

There is little argument that the Star Wars franchise has had its fair share of success. From the movies to action figures to video games the Star Wars logo always seems to draw a crowd. I can remember watching the first installment, Episode IV: A New Hope, countless times in theaters and being amazed at the special effects (that seem to pale in comparison with what we have today).

This week we’re taking an easy approach to the roundup, focusing on the top Star Wars games (and a few apps) that are available for the Windows Phone platform. While Star Wars is a popular genre, its presence in the Windows Phone Store is a little on the thin side. There are some entertaining and challenging Star Wars games but some rather obvious omissions. Hopefully that will change.

We recently looked at an upcoming Star Wars game for both Windows and Windows Phone - Star Wars Assault Team. The game has finally launched on Microsoft platforms today, opening up the popular, fictional galaxy far, far away. Windows Phone has received a mixture of Star Wars games, some containing angry birds and others tasking players to build tower defenses.

Star Wars: Assault Team is a card come strategy, turn-based game. Players are able to collect and assemble a powerful team of heroes to battle enemies and even other players across the universe.

It may not be the best game out there on Windows Phone Store, but Star Wars: Tiny Death Star is annoyingly addictive and one of the guilty pleasures of several amongst the Windows Phone Central crew.

Available for both Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 devices, the game combines Star Wars with time management gameplay. Your mission is to build up the Death Star and make the Emperor happy. The retro graphics add to the game’s unique charm.

If you are looking for a painfully addicting Windows Phone game, you need to take a look at Star Wars: Tiny Death Star. The Windows Phone 8 title is a time management styled game set on the decks of the Death Star. Your mission, build up the Death Star and make the Emperor happy.

Star Wars: Tiny Death Star is a staff favorite and was updated today to version 1.3.0.5. The update addresses the demand for more assignments and better returns for your service to the Empire such as VIPs, Imperial Bux, Costumes and Characters.

The official Star Wars Twitter profile has announced that a new game will be launching on not only Android and iOS, but Windows 8 and Windows Phone too – Star Wars: Assault Team. Prepare those blasters as Disney will be releasing a brand new experience for you to travel to a galaxy far, far away.

There’s a guilty pleasure surrounding the crew at here at Windows Phone Central. We’re addicted to Star Wars: Tiny Death Star for Windows Phone and Windows 8. The game combines Star Wars with time management gameplay. That’s the perfect recipe for addictive gameplay. Both the Windows Phone and Windows 8 version of Tiny Death Star also just picked up an update that throws in some holiday fun. Let’s check it out.

Star Wars: Tiny Death Star hit both the Windows Phone and Windows Store last week and is the result of a partnership between LucasArts and Nimblebit games.

The game, available for Windows Phone 8, plays much like Nimblebit'sTiny Tower just with a Star Wars twist. You're tasked with building a Death Star level by level, while maintaining economic stability, keeping your population happy and thwart the Rebel Alliance.

The retro styled graphics does have a certain level of appeal but the pace of the game may put some to sleep. However, if you like business simulation styled games Star Wars: Tiny Death Star is an attractive choice to consider.

Star Wars: Tiny Death Star is a business simulation game developed by Disney Mobile and NimbleBit (published by LucasArts), which has come to Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8, alongside Android and iOS devices.

The latest title is based on NimbleBit's previous hit game, Tiny Tower but is set in the Star Wars universe. Tiny Tower wasn’t available for Windows Phone, so it’s great to see LucasArts/NimbleBit on Windows Phone Store finally.

Rovio has announced that the next instalment in the Angry Birds Star Wars series of games will be launching on Windows Phone. Angry Birds Star Wars II puts the player in control of slinging birds at pigs to battle through levels in a galactic setting. There's a twist, however. You'll also be able to play as the piggies on the pork side of the force and teleport figurines into your game. Sounds rather cool, right?

Yesterday, Angry Birds Space became the first Windows Phone 8 game available for purchase. While its appearance may have disappointed those Windows Phone 7 gamers who can’t upgrade to WP8 anytime soon, Space is exactly what WP8 needed to kick off its bid to seriously compete with iOS and Android. Sure, the game arrived about 7 months later than on competing platforms, but it’s timed perfectly with Microsoft’s new mobile OS launch.

Today Windows Phone Angry Birds fans discovered even better news. Angry Birds Star Wars, first announced for Windows Phone alongside every other version on October 8, has just launched for Xbox on Windows Phone 8. That’s right, day and date with the iOS and Android versions! That’s a far cry from the days when Rovio almost couldn’t be bothered to even announce a WP version, let alone support WP7 Angry Birds with the same updates as the other platforms.

If you are a Star Wars fan, here's a Windows Phone app that will make you smile. Star Wars by Jaxified is a collection of sound bites, songs and background images from the complete Star Wars saga. From Chewbacca's roar to R2D2's beeps to Vader's ugly mug, this app is all about Star Wars.

Kinect Star Wars for your Xbox 360 was released just a short while ago and yesterday the Kinect Star Wars app for your Windows Phone hit the Windows Phone Marketplace. And it's not what you think.

You may be thinking that the Kinect Star Wars app turns your Windows Phone into a light saber or monitors your progress in the Xbox 360 game. Nope.

The Kinect Star Wars app is a social network app that will pull feeds from your Facebook and Twitter accounts, giving your social networking a Star Wars feel. You also have a Kinect feed full of posts from your favorite Star Wars characters.

On each of the Twitter and Facebook pages, you have button controls to post, view your profile, search and view the Kinect Star Wars Xbox 360 website. The profile pages breaks down your Twitter account rather nicely with pages for your account details, your tweets, mentions, messages, favorites and following/followers lists. You do have live tile support to pin your profile to your Windows Phone Start Screen.

When viewing your Twitter or Facebook pages, the Kinect Star Wars app supports horizontal view but in its own special way. We won't spoil the surprise but if you're in the mood for Star Wars, the landscape view won't disappoint.

The Kinect Star Wars app is a free app that you can grab here at the Windows Phone Marketplace.

As the title suggests, Kinect Star Wars is an Xbox 360-exclusive title that requires the Kinect motion-sensing peripheral to play. Players are tasked with helping C3PO and R2-D2 sort through the Jedi archives. The two lovable droids run around and make all kinds of silly quips as you navigate the game’s excellent menus, which also happen to have the best voice controls of any Kinect title so far. Each of the five archives is a distinct game mode, allowing the game to deliver a variety of classic Star Wars moments and gameplay styles.

Vodafone has always been creative when it comes to television advertising, whether we have bees walking into shop windows, or someone taking photos of himself and a sleeping lady on a flight and getting caught in the act. In the above video, we have a couple preparing to enjoy a meal and are joined by Yoda (a powerful Jedi from Star Wars). He offers to transfer the man's contacts from the old mobile phone to the new Lumia 800 Windows Phone, using the force.

The advert's message is covering contact transferring that Vodafone can do in-store for customers (RED Box service), but it's good to see a Windows Phone being used as prop.

We're always looking to refresh our lock screen on our ten Windows Phones. Okay, well you probably don't have that big of a problem but still, if you're like us and a bit geeky, these "minimalist" Star Wars wallpapers will suit your needs.

Created by Rafal Rola and cropped/re-sized by 1800PocketPC, there are the six posters for the Star Wars films (although lets be honest, there are only three real films, amiright?) and another nine for specific characters, including yes, Mr. Bobba Fett (Boba Fett, where?!).

So haul yourself on over, get your downloading on and represent some Star Wars.

When three Xbox Live games were pulled from the Marketplace in a single day, gamers were justifiably upset. The delisted games include Fast & Furious: Adrenaline (review), Star Wars: Battle for Hoth (review), and Star Wars Cantina. All three games are based on licensed properties, and those licenses seemed to expire simultaneously. Sure, the publishers should have notified us that the licenses were ending in advance so as to reap last-minute sales, but that would actually make sense…

Good news for Star Wars fans then, as working Zune links for both Cantina and Battle for Hoth have been discovered. Neither game shows up when browsing the Marketplace, but with these links they can still be purchased. Should you buy them though? Battle for Hoth may be the worst Xbox Live tower defense game in my opinion, due to its absurd difficulty and general jankiness. Cantina, on the other hand, is a decent time-management game. It’s nowhere near as good as Sally’s Salon Luxury Edition (review) due to its short length and poor controls, but still worth a play if you’ve already finished Sally’s Salon and crave more customers to serve. Plus, unlike Hoth it’s got easy Achievements.

You can find Star Wars: Battle for Hothhere (Zune link) and Star Wars Cantinahere, hidden away in the Marketplace. There’s no telling how much longer the links will work, so commence to downloading if they catch your fancy.

Update: Microsoft's Karl Stricker has chimed in to let us know that these three games were removed by the develoeprs because the game's licenses had expired. So the good news is the games are pefectly fine for playing, the bad news is you can no longer play them if you haven't previously bought/downloaded them.

Bad news folks, looks like we have another case of missing Xbox LIVE games for Windows Phone again. This time three titles have disappeared:

Once again, we are left without reason as to their disappearance or whether they will return or not. Usually, the case has been they return at some point with an update or bug fix that was sorely needed, but we all know about the Crackdown 2: Project Sunburst fiasco.

Regardless of the reasons, duration of them missing or circumstances, we find the frequency of which Xbox LIVE games being pulled alarming. For one, these are the "A-list" titles and therefore shouldn't be having any such problems and if they do, they should have their updates fast-tracked. Number two, we find the lack of communication disturbing, to paraphrase our favorite Darklord of the Sith. Once again, we're all adults here and while we may not like games being yanked if we're told why and how the situation is being resolved, well, it goes a long way in ameliorating our concerns.

As usual, we'll work on getting answers. Until then, we're left with just questions. And frustration. And disappointment. Thanks, Tom S. & Mike J., for the heads up!

We mentioned last week that Microsoft is kicking off a 'Deal of the Week' program for Xbox LIVE games for Windows Phone. The first was 'Frogger' which dropped to $1.99 and now this week it will be 'Star Wars: Battle for Hoth' which is dropping from $4.99 to $2.99. The price drop should go into effect sometime after midnight tonight and it will be good for one-week.

The 'Deal of the Week' program is popular on the Xbox LIVE console and is now being brought over to Windows Phone to help drive sales of games that either have passed under the radar or are older and need more exposure. 'Frogger' and 'Star Wars: Battle for Hoth' were both at or near launch of Windows Phone 7, so it's good to see them getting re-mentioned. See our review for SW: BFH right here and the recent update changelog here.

These four items should be on sale through March 8, so grab them while you can. I’m not a fan of Tron Legacy’s foam latex suit, but I did snag those lightsabers. Do any of these catch your fancy, or would you not be caught dead paying for avatar stuff? Leave a comment and let us know.